After producer Manish Shah accused Kartik Aaryan of "unprofessionalism," the makers of Shehzada stood up in defense of the actor. In an interview with India Today, Manish Shah had alleged that Kartik Aaryan had threatened to quit the project if the Hindi version of Allu Arjun's Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo released in theatres. Shehzada, starring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon in lead roles, is a Hindi remake of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. "The makers of Shehzda were not keen to release the Hindi version in cinemas. Also, Kartik Aaryan said if the movie was released in theatres, he would walk out of the film, which would have caused Shehzada producers a loss of Rs 40 crores. It was extremely unprofessional of him," Manish Shah told India Today.
After Manish Shah's statement snowballed into a controversy, Shehzda producer Bhushan Kumar said the decision to release the film was of the producers and not of the actor. "We, the producers, felt that Shehzada should release in theatre first and not the Hindi version of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, hence we requested Goldmines not to release the Hindi version, and release of the film is always the producers decision and not actor," news agency ANI quoted Bhushan Kumar as saying.
Shehzada producer Aman Gill said this about Kartik Aaryan's work ethics, "After finding out about the Hindi Version release of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, we the producers on our own requested Manishji to not release it. Kartik is going all out for Shehzada as an actor and only discusses how he can contribute to make this the biggest film for everyone involved, he is one of most dedicated actors in the industry," reported ANI.
This is not the first time that Kartik Aaryan has been accused of unprofessionalism. Last year, sources told NDTV that that Dostana 2 producers had to take the decision of revising the film's cast because of Kartik Aaryan. "Yes, it's true that this project won't have Kartik Aaryan anymore. I can't tell you all the reasons but yes, it's not been a pleasant experience so far, that's all I can say. It has never happened in the history of Dharma Productions that an actor who has shot a film has been dropped," a source at the production house told NDTV.
Kartik Aaryan stepped into Bollywood debut with Luv Ranjan's Pyaar Ka Punchnama and he has been a part of movies such as Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, Kaanchi-The Unbreakable, Luka Chuppi , Guest Inn London and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety. He also starred in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal, opposite Sara Ali Khan.
Kartik Aaryan was last seen in Netflix's Dhamaka.The actor will next be seen in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, co-starring Kiara Advani and Tabu. He will also feature in Freddy with Alaya F.
(With inputs from ANI)